If takt time is the heart of lean production, effective visual management represents the nervous system in Lean management. Visual management is an indispensable tool when we implement Lean. It helps the other Lean tools become more powerful by making their impact on the business visual. In this Lean Minute video, TXM China Consulting Director, Justin Tao, explains how to design and effective Visual Management Board.
Read Justin Tao’s Blog on Visual Management Boards
View a Video about How Visual Management Boards fit in to Lean Daily Leadership Process
Read the Video Transcript
Hi, I’m Justin Tao.
Welcome to this TXM Lean minute.
Today we’ll talk about Visual Management Boards.
If takt time is the heart of lean production, visual management represents the nervous system in Lean management.
Visual management is an indispensable tool when we implement Lean.
It helps the other lean tools more powerful by making their impact on the business visual.
I think all companies have sort of visual management boards, which is the simplest format of visual management.
However, I often find that some, so called, visual management boards actually are just information boards, only showing the information, records or plans of the area.
Some even worse, no any useful information, just show boards.
So what is a visual management board?
I think a true visual management board should contain three elements: standards, problems and actions.
Standard, means there should have the target or plan on the board, which tells how things should be if everything is perfect;
Problem, means deviations from standard.
Yes, Anything different from Standard is a problem, either actual performance or the standard itself;
Action, means what countermeasures should be taken when there’s a problem.
All these elements help user to understand what’s actually going on in this area.
Only by making the things visible it is possible to identify the problems and quickly solve or address them.
So there’s another question you may ask:
what kind of visual management board is a good one?
At TXM, we believe that a good visual management board should match 31 seconds rule:
In 1 second, it can tells us if it’s normal, everything fine in this area, according to the standard or plan;
in 10 seconds, it tells us what the problem it is if it’s not normal;
and in another 20 seconds, it tells us what actions are taken, who is responsible for this and what kind support needed.
A good visual management board can have dialogue with users and viewers, and become a powerful tool for daily management, rather than an extra work to update.
The form of the Visual management board is limited only by your imagination!
Contact TXM to make your visual management board more efficiently and effectively.
I’m Justin Tao
Thank you for watching this TXM Lean Minute.
